


Too Late

by FlamesRise



Category: Dangan Ronpa 3: The End of 希望ヶ峰学園 | The End of Kibougamine Gakuen | End of Hope's Peak High School, Super Dangan Ronpa 2
Genre: Angst, Dangan Ronpa 3: Despair Arc, Forbidden Love, Insecurity, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-18
Updated: 2020-01-18
Packaged: 2021-02-27 14:41:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,096
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22308835
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FlamesRise/pseuds/FlamesRise
Summary: Finding comfort in someone else sounds so simple, but life never allows things to stay that easy.
Relationships: Hinata Hajime/Komaeda Nagito
Comments: 1
Kudos: 56





	Too Late

It was a hazy summer afternoon when the reserve course student first caught his eye. Sat alone under a cherry blossom tree, soft hazel eyes gazing off into the distance, lost in thought. 

He hated himself for the fact he couldn't look away. He's nothing special, after all. None of them are. 

_But neither am I._

Who was he to determine who was worthy and who wasn't, when he was also tainting this wonderous place with his shameful presence? Reluctantly, he sat himself down beside him. 

"It feels wrong, doesn't it?" He wasn't quite sure what he was asking about, or which one of them he was posing the question to, but it snapped the other boy out of his trance all the same. 

"What the hell are you doing here?" A soft voice laced with agitation and bewilderment. 

"I'm not sure." 

With the responding slight smile that matched his own, he fell into a trap he'd never be able to escape, drowning in its depths, an endless whirlwind of emotion. 

_Would I change it if I could go back?_

_I'm not sure._

* * *

It was a warm August night, when he first found himself sneaking into the wrong school building after hours. A comforting presence greeted him. A presence that should never have become so comforting, that had no right to be, but it was what it was nonetheless. 

"This way. There's no one around. I already checked." 

The temptation to take his hand as he walked alongside him was overwhelming, but he resisted, pushed it away. It would be too much, too wrong, to pretend that this was normal, that anything about what they were doing was even _close_ to being anything but an awful aberration. 

He tried to ignore the way his heart pounded in his chest as he sank down into an unfamiliar bed, the way his stomach fluttered as warm lips were pressed to his own. 

_This is just for comfort. Just to quell the loneliness. Just because neither of us have anyone else. It doesn't mean anything. It doesn't make me feel anything._

He wondered how much longer he'd be able to keep lying to himself. 

* * *

It was a bright, sunny morning when he awoke to blinding light flooding the room. Too bright. Too early. Too soon for this to end. 

He shifted himself closer to the sleeping body beside him, a tentative arm wrapping around firm shoulders, taking it all in, allowing it to consume him. Breathing in his scent, flooding all his senses with bliss, serenity. 

He squeezed his eyes shut, clutching at nothing as the boy moved away from him. Trying to hold on to that feeling, imprint it into his mind as he listened to lazy footsteps moving around the room. 

"Classes start soon." His voice was dismissive and cold as always, yet he thought, _hoped,_ that maybe there was some hint of sadness there. 

"We can't do this again, Komaeda." 

He nodded in affirmation, hiding the hurt behind a forced smile. "I know. It's not right." 

An unspoken understanding sat behind the empty platitudes. They both knew they didn't really mean it. They both knew they couldn't stay away, no matter how hard they tried. 

* * *

It was a frosty November evening, when he found himself in that all too familiar place yet again. Wrestling with doubt, wondering when he'd become so _complacent_ in all this, seeking comfort in a person who was so much lower than everyone else here, who shouldn't even _be_ here in the first place. 

_Maybe, what you really want is someone who's just like you._

A thought that was too much to even begin to process, an idea that threatened to fracture his defences, tear down his walls, turn his world upside down. An idea he could never even begin to entertain, for fear of what it might lead to. 

He chose instead to lose himself in another kiss, familiar, reassuring, safe. A feeling he couldn't afford to lose, another thought that was positively terrifying. 

And when their lips were pulled apart, and he heard the next words the reserve course student spoke, his entire world really did shatter right before his eyes. 

It was cold, far too cold, out in the open air, away from the all-encompassing warmth of Hinata's bed, Hinata's presence. Despite that, he kept walking through it, ignoring the voice calling out behind him, determined to get as far away from it as possible. 

* * *

It was a dreary January day, when he found himself outside that same door he'd already told himself he was going to leave behind for good. He knocked apprehensively, with a hand that refused to stop shaking. 

No answer. 

He tried to open it, breathing becoming shallow and rapid. 

Locked. 

Panic took over him, and he couldn't do anything else but sink to the floor, trying to catch his breath, trying to work out what to do now, when he knew he'd never find the courage to come back here again. 

"U-um, excuse me?" 

A timid, nervous voice interrupted him. Another reserve course student. He tried his hardest to come up with some sort of excuse, think of some way to explain what he was doing here. 

"Are you looking for Hinata?" 

All he could do was nod. 

"He dropped out. I haven't seen him in a month now." 

A sinking pit in his stomach, weighing him down, dragging and pulling, hands clawing at him, wanting him to sink further still. Plunge deeper and deeper into pure _despair._

"Hey uh… are you okay?" 

His hands clutched at his hair desperately, trying to make it stop somehow, trying to wake himself up, make this end. But nothing worked, nothing helped, all he wanted, all he _needed_ was-

"It's too late." A choked whisper that came out before he had a chance to hold it back. 

_I'm too late._

Reality rushed back all too suddenly, and he found himself running away again, away from the shocked face of the student behind him, the school uniform he couldn't even bear to look at. 

* * *

It doesn't matter what day it is anymore. 

Nothing does. 

Everything is so empty, so meaningless, so devoid of hope. 

All because of someone he should never have cared about in the first place. 

All because he couldn't let go, give into it, accept what he knew he felt, a feeling that still lingers, refuses to leave even now. 

He just lays there, paralysed, in a bed that feels so empty now. 

_"I love you too, Hinata. I'm sorry I didn't say it sooner."_

**Author's Note:**

> I wanted to make this longer but I'm lazy and unmotivated. I just really love despair arc era Komahina as a concept and I have lots of ideas about them but apparently can't write anything that isn't super short.


End file.
